Sign & Digital Graphics

November '18

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10 • November 2018 • S I G N & D I G I T A L G R A P H I C S
Monthly News Roundup
B Y T O N Y K I N D E L S P I R E
N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 8
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EFI Appoints Bill Muir as New CEO
Fremont, California-based large-format printer manufacturer EFI announces the
appointment of William (Bill) Muir as its new CEO. Muir succeeds Guy Gecht, who
informed the board in July that he intended to step down as CEO upon the appoint-
ment of his successor.
Gecht will stay on as a member of the board of directors and will be an advisor to the
new CEO. Muir was chosen by the company's board of directors and will join that board
when he assumes his position this month.
Previous to this appointment, Muir was the chief operating officer at Jabil, a $22
billion product solutions company where he spent the past 25 years helping leading
brands bring products to market. He has a deep background in complex engineering
and manufacturing processes.
"Bill is going to take EFI to the next level," Gecht says. "At Jabil his experience and
track record included scaling multi-billion dollar businesses, driving execution and set-
ting the firm's strategic direction. This background uniquely prepares him to be the next CEO of EFI."
"I am honored and humbled to join the EFI team," Muir says. "I look forward to leading our exceptional
team as we work tirelessly to delight our customers and create shareholder value."
Large-Format Printer Shipments Up Through First Half of 2018
Framingham, Massachusetts-based technology analysis firm IDC reports that during the second quarter
of this year, global shipments of large-format printers increased 4 percent year-over-year while large-
format printer revenue grew 3 percent. For the first half of the year, shipments were up 3 ½ percent while
revenue is up more than 5 percent compared to the first half of 2017. Shipments in North America were
down by about 3 ½ percent year-over-year.
The report also found that there was some movement among the top five large-format manufactur-
ers. Mimaki overtook Roland DG in terms of second quarter shipments to move into fourth place. The top
five large-format printer companies in the second quarter of 2018, in terms
of units shipped, were HP Inc., Canon-Océ, Seiko Epson, Mimaki, and Roland
DG. HP by itself had nearly 35 percent of all the shipments of large-format
printers globally in the second quarter.
SAi Partners with Avery Dennison on Specialized RIP Software
Salt Lake City-based SAi (SA International), a provider of software solutions for industries including sign-
making, large-format digital printing and CAD/CAM for machining, announces a partnership with Mentor,
Ohio-based Avery Dennison to develop specialized software for Avery Dennison's TrafficJet Print System,
which prints traffic signage.
The FlexiSIGN & PRINT Avery Dennison TrafficJet and FlexiPRINT Avery Dennison TrafficJet software will
feature on the new system, which is designed to allow the production of certified output for the highly-
regulated global traffic signage market.
As well as incorporating the TrafficJet large-format digital printer, the bundle includes the specially-
designed versions of SAi's software which is optimized for traffic sign production.
According to the companies, the Avery Dennison TrafficJet Print System's CMSpot6 ink setup uses six
dedicated spot colors that match the regulated traffic signage. Utilizing FlexiSIGN & PRINT Avery Dennison
TrafficJet edition, users can extend this color gamut to create custom blends from those spot colors,
enabling the production of additional regulated colors such as purple, orange, and gray, or produce pro-
cess colors on reflective or commercial graphics. This offers the opportunity to efficiently produce a wider
range of traffic signage that adheres to required specifications.